As was to be expected... the downplaying of possible consequences in order to try and save face.

The incoming US national security adviser has dismissed claims that the surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden has weakened the president,
Barack Obama, and damaged American foreign policy.

Rice rejected suggestions that Snowden's disclosures had made Obama a lame duck, damaged his political base and hurt US foreign policy, saying: "I
think that's bunk." "I don't think the diplomatic consequences, at least as they are foreseeable now, are that significant," she added.

and: "I think the United States of America is and will remain the most influential, powerful and important country in the world, the largest
economy, and the largest military, [with] a network of alliances, values that are universally respected."

Revealed: secret European deals to hand over private data to America :

At least six European Union countries in addition to Britain have been colluding with the US over the mass harvesting of personal communications
data, according to a former contractor to America's National Security Agency, who said the public should not be "kept in the dark". > names Denmark,
the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain and Italy as having secret deals with the US. Madsen said the countries had "formal second and third party
status" under signal intelligence (sigint) agreements that compels them to hand over data, including mobile phone and internet information to the NSA
if requested.

Madsen said he was alarmed at the "sanctimonious outcry" of political leaders who were "feigning shock" about the spying operations while staying
silent about their own arrangements with the US, and was particularly concerned that senior German politicians had accused the UK of spying when their
country had a similar third-party deal with the NSA. Although the level of co-operation provided by other European countries to the NSA is not on the
same scale as that provided by the UK, the allegations are potentially embarrassing. "I can't understand how Angela Merkel can keep a straight face,
demanding assurances from [Barack] Obama and the UK while Germany has entered into those exact relationships," Madsen said.

Madsen said all seven European countries and the US have access to the Tat 14 fibre-optic cable network running between Denmark and Germany, the
Netherlands, France, the UK and the US, allowing them to intercept vast amounts of data, including phone calls, emails and records of users' access to
websites.

The European parliament's report followed revelations that the NSA was conducting a global intelligence-gathering operation, known as
Echelon, which appears to have established the framework for European member states to collaborate with the US. "A lot of this
information isn't secret, nor is it new," Madsen said. "It's just that governments have chosen to keep the public in the dark about it. The days when
they could get away with a conspiracy of silence are over."

What we knew all along, but as Madson states "A lot of this information isn't secret, nor is it new," Madsen said. "It's just that governments have
chosen to keep the public in the dark about it. The days when they could get away with a conspiracy of silence are over.

Edit: while signing in to comment, the entire article has been taken down (from front page)

There is a fact that every ruling goverment is always trying its best to spy on its citizens to control their minds and to ensure there would not be
any threats to its power. This makes internet security more and more important today.

Napoleon said. The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of the bad people, but by the silence of the good people.

I don't know if he said that, but I do know he said this:

"When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that
gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain."
Napoleon Bonaparte

There are no countries, there are no governments, they are an illusion. There are only global financial oligarchs and they are the ones who tell your
elected officials what they may and may not do.

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